Television's Power Shift:
Cable Pays for 'Free' Shows

Broadcasters Want Cash
To Carry Their Signal;
Super Bowl Is Hostage

Just after midnight on Jan. 6, technicians in 12 mostly Midwestern states threw switches that blacked out at least one major broadcast channel from about 500,000 homes.

Behind the disruption was an increasingly bitter, high-stakes slugfest between broadcast-station owners and cable operators. Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. blacked out 22 of its 57 stations, and the popular network shows they carry, from cable operator Mediacom...